The Carden Method is an educational program developed by Mae Carden and practiced in approximately 80

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...

s across the United States. Carden schools are largely nonsectarian and always independent.

History

Mae Carden developed the Carden Method in response to what she perceived as a decline in understanding in

progressive education Progressive education, or educational progressivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. T ...

. The first Carden school was established in 1934 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Mae Carden also established the Carden Educational Foundation, which maintains the collection of teaching materials used in Carden schools.

Curriculum

The Carden curriculum is broad, including traditional subjects such as mathematics, language arts, science, history, and geography, as well as cultural programs in art, music, and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

as well as Spanish depending on the school. Each grade level builds on the knowledge and skills gained by the student from the previous year. Language arts are taught using Sentence Analysis. This also teaches proper sentence structure by reinforcing the fact that all sentences need a subject, called the "Who," and a

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

. Mathematics is taught uniquely as the language of numbers. New concepts are continually introduced, but no concept is ever taught and dropped. Daily problems and tests both cover concepts learned recently and review all the material covered up to that point. The large majority of the literature recommended by the Carden Method is classical, including works such as

The Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. Written by the Roman poet Virgil between 29 and ...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, th ...

, and

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is an 1826 historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder'', ...

. In addition to world history, geography is given great importance in order to provide students with a cultural and locational awareness of their world. Instruction in French and or Spanish begins as early as kindergarten and continues through middle school. Occasionally, students also study Latin beginning in the sixth grade or the beginning of seventh grade. The Latin complements the student's work in French and facilitates the future comprehension of other Romance languages. Study of the Latin language is supplemented by exposure to the Classical world of the Romans and Greeks. The method has received mixed reviews from education experts, with appreciation for the thorough approach to linguistics, but criticism for the lack of adaptability to modern grammar alterations and alternate vernaculars, some citing it as too rigid, and outdated in respect of modern vernacular, including culturally exclusive vernaculars.

Carden Controls

Students learn spelling through the Carden "controls", a set of rules for deconstructing a word into its basic phonic parts. The controls are essentially a distillation of classic dictionary marks, but are "presented in such a way that the students are able to remember how and why a word is spelled" and to also explain the reasons why letters are pronounced differently. In addition, the controls are accompanied by a vowel chart, which groups sounds into natural phonic clusters. Spelling instincts are reinforced through daily dictation lessons, which include both familiar and unfamiliar words.

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

Who Was Mae Carden.
Heritage Oak Times. November 2005.
Who was Mae Carden and what is "The Carden Method?".
Carden Academy of Maui.

Carden School of Whittier.

External links

Carden Educational Foundation
Pedagogy Education in New York City